Sub-PRB resource allocation for pusch in even further enhanced MTC

1. An apparatus of an even further enhanced machine-type communications user equipment (efeMTC UE), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry arranged to: encode, for transmission to one of an evolved NodeB (eNB) or a next generation NodeB (gNB), support for a sub-physical resource block (PRB) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission in a capability information element of a radio resource control (RRC) message; decode, from the one of the eNB or the gNB, dedicated RRC signaling that contains a sub-PRB configuration; decode, from the one of the eNB or the gNB, an allocation for a PUSCH transmission; determine that the allocation is a sub-PRB allocation; and encode, for transmission to the one of the eNB or the gNB, the PUSCH transmission on the sub-PRB allocation; and a memory configured to store the sub-PRB configuration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein: the processing circuitry is further arranged to decode semi-statistical RRC signaling that comprises the sub-PRB configuration, and the sub-PRB configuration is dependent on at least one of a maximum PUSCH channel bandwidth, a coverage enhancement (CE) mode, a minimum repetition level (RL) configured for the PUSCH or a time division duplexing (TDD) configuration.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to at least one of: determine from the dedicated RRC signaling that the sub-PRB allocation is unavailable when the maximum PUSCH channel bandwidth is larger than a predetermined bandwidth, determine from the dedicated RRC signaling that the sub-PRB allocation is unavailable when the efeMTC UE is in coverage enhancement (CE) mode A, or determine from the dedicated RRC signaling that the sub-PRB allocation is unavailable when the minimum RL is smaller than a predetermined value.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: limit support sub-PRB allocation to a PUSCH other than a PUSCH used for carrying message 3 of a Random Access Channel (RACH) process.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine that the allocation is the sub-PRB allocation from a 1-bit flag in the allocation in downlink control information (DCI).

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine, from the allocation, a narrowband (NB) resource allocation from a NB index, a PRB in a NB indicated by the NB index, and a subcarrier indication, and determine the PRB from one of: 3 bits in the allocation, the 3 bits configured to provide an explicit indication of the PRB in the NB, a predefined or RRC configured PRB of the NB, a single bit to indicate whether the PRB is a starting or ending PRB of the NB, or multiple bits to indicate which of N candidate PRBs of the NB is the PRB.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine, from the allocation, a narrowband (NB) resource allocation from a NB index, a PRB in a NB indicated by the NB index, and a subcarrier indication, and determine the subcarrier indication from: when subcarrier spacings other than a 15 kHz subcarrier spacing are unsupported: 5 bits to indicate a first set of allocated subcarriers, 3 bits to indicate a second set of allocated subcarriers when 3, 6 and 12-tone allocations are supported, a reserved Isc entry to indicate 2 or 4 tones, or 2 bits to indicate a third set of allocated subcarriers when 3 or 6-tone allocations are supported and 12-tone allocations are unsupported, 6 bits when a 3.75 kHz and 15 kHz subcarrier spacing are supported, and a number of bits that is dependent on a coverage enhancement (CE) mode of the efeMTC UE.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: support a different number of redundancy versions (RVs) for sub-PRB allocation than for a non-sub-PRB allocation, and change the RV supported for sub-PRB allocation per subframe, resource unit (RU) or set of RUs.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: support 4 redundancy versions (RVs) for sub-PRB allocation and for a non-sub-PRB allocation.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein: the sub-PRB allocation is provided in an MTC physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) formed in accordance with downlink control information (DCI) format 6-0A for Coverage Enhancement (CE) mode A and 6-0B for CE mode B.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine, from one of higher layer signaling or a downlink control information (DCI) format, whether to use a denser Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) for sub-PRB allocation than for PRB allocation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: use the denser DMRS when a total scheduled duration of the PUSCH is no less than a predetermined time period that is configured by higher layer signaling, use a 3-tone and 6-tone narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) DMRS sequence respectively for a 3-tone and 6-tone PUSCH, use a Gold sequence for a single-tone PUSCH, use a length 2 and 4 DMRS sequence respectively for a 2-tone and 4-tone PUSCH, wherein the length 2 and 4 DMRS sequence is punctured from a 3-tone, 6-tone or 12-tone DMRS sequence or a new sequence is defined.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: decode a Random Access Response (RAR) that comprises at most a single bit that indicates a subcarrier spacing, a single bit that indicates whether the resource allocation is the sub-PRB allocation, a reinterpretation of a resource allocation field for a sub-PRB allocation, a coverage enhancement (CE) mode-dependent number of bits that indicate a number of resource units and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and transport block size (TBS) indication for random access channel message 3.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine that sub-PRB allocation is unsupported for a PUSCH transmission that includes uplink control information (UCI); and at least one of: drop a PUSCH that overlaps with a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) regardless of a number of repetitions used for the PUCCH or piggyback the UCI in the PUSCH when the PUSCH is a multi-tone PUSCH and drop the PUSCH when the PUSCH is a single-tone PUSCH.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: determine a coverage enhancement (CE) mode of the UE; determine whether the PUSCH collides with a cell-specific Sounding Reference Signal (SRS); and when the UE is in CE mode A or B and is determined to collide with the cell-specific SRS, rate match around or puncture a last symbol of the PUSCH that collides with the cell-specific SRS.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further arranged to: configure frequency hopping for the PUSCH transmission on the sub-PRB allocation to follow enhanced Machine-Type Communications (MTC) frequency hopping with enhanced granularity in units of subcarriers.

17. An apparatus of an evolved NodeB (eNB), the apparatus comprising: a memory; processing circuitry arranged to: determine whether an indication whether an even further enhanced machine-type communications user equipment (efeMTC UE) supports a sub-physical resource block (PRB) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission is stored in the memory; decode, from the efeMTC UE, a random access channel (RACH) message 3 on a PRB allocation in response to a determination that the indication is not stored in the memory; determine that the efeMTC UE supports the sub-PRB PUSCH transmission from a capability information element of a radio resource control (RRC) message received from the efeMTC UE after transmission of the RACH message 3, the capability information element stored in the memory as the indication; encode, for transmission to the efeMTC UE after reception of the capability information element, a sub-PRB allocation for a PUSCH transmission; and decode, from the efeMTC UE, the PUSCH transmission on the sub-PRB allocation.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein: the processing circuitry is further arranged to encode semi-statistical RRC signaling that comprises a sub-PRB configuration prior to reception of the PUSCH transmission, and the sub-PRB configuration is dependent on at least one of a maximum PUSCH channel bandwidth, a coverage enhancement (CE) mode, a minimum repetition level (RL) configured for the PUSCH or a time division duplexing (TDD) configuration.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an even further enhanced machine-type communications user equipment (efeMTC UE), the one or more processors to configure the efeMTC UE to, when the instructions are executed: transmit to a next generation NodeB (gNB) support for a sub-physical resource block (PRB) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission in a capability information element of a radio resource control (RRC) message; receive, from the one of an evolved NodeB ‘eNB’ or the gNB, semi-statistical dedicated RRC signaling that contains a sub-PRB configuration that is dependent on a sub-a maximum PUSCH channel bandwidth, a coverage enhancement (CE) mode, a minimum repetition level (RL) configured for the PUSCH or a time division duplexing (TDD) configuration; receive a sub-PRB PUSCH transmission allocation; and transmit a sub-PRB PUSCH transmission on the sub-PRB PUSCH transmission allocation.

20. The medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the efeMTC UE to at least one of: determine that the sub-PRB allocation is unavailable when the maximum PUSCH channel bandwidth is larger than a predetermined bandwidth, the efeMTC UE is in coverage enhancement (CE) mode A, or the minimum RL is smaller than a predetermined value, or limit modulation to quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) for a multi-tone PUSCH and π/2 binary phase shift keying (BPSK) and π/4 QPSK for a single-tone PUSCH.